Forums - Discs & Movies - Favourite directors

18th June 2006 5:05#1

Earlier I was thinking about what constitutes a 'favourite' director. There are plenty of director's who have made a few films I like, but not that many who have made more than one or two that I 'love'. So I challenged myself to come up with a list of directors who have made three films that I consider to be fantastic. The things I do when I can't sleep. Anyway, here's the list (I'll probably think of more).

Steven Spielberg: For Jaws, E.T. and Raiders of the Lost Ark.

John Carpenter: For The Thing, Big Trouble in Little China and They Live. The last one has really grown on me over the years. Pretty much anything he did pre-1988 earns his place here.

Martin Scorsese: For Goodfellas, Cape Fear and Casino. There are others of course, but these three stick in the mind.

Paul Verhoeven: For RoboCop, Total Recall and Starship Troopers. I stand by this.

Quentin Tarantino: For Reservoir Dogs, Pulp Fiction and Jackie Brown (and to a lesser extent, Kill Bill, had it been one film).

Park Chan-wook: For Sympathy for Mr., Vengeance, Oldboy and Sympathy for Lady Vengeance.

Had to exclude Lucas, because of the films he's done I only really love the first Star Wars. Copola is the same. Godfather I and II are amazing, III not so much and Apocalypse Now wasn't my thing. Dracula might have been in there if not for Keanu Reeves and Winona Ryder. As I said, probably more. I'll add them when I think of them.

18th June 2006 12:38#3

1.Takashi Miike for films like ichi the killer, audition and gozu and all his other films. Plus his masters of horror episode 'imprint' and his 3 extremes episode 'box' 2. Park chan wook for his revenge trilogy, his episode in 3 extremes ' cut' and jsa. 3. Tarantino for all his films 4. Scorsese for the obvious reasons. 5. peter jackson for braindead , bad taste and meet the feebles- these films are so funny.

18th June 2006 13:41#5

Stanley Kubrick - No explanation necessary I guess, however to say that if you’ve never seen one of his film’s drop what your doing and see one. Notably “Clockwork Orange”, “2001” and “Barry Lyndon”.

Werner Herzog – His film’s particularly when teamed with Klaus Kinski are true works of art, “Aguirre: The Wrath of God”, is the most chilling documentation of the Conquistadors in South America. The documentary “Lessons of Darkness” is the most beautiful and powerful documentary I have ever seen.

Ridley Scott – Though not in the same league as the former two artistically, his films are always a stand out. “Gladiator” and “Blade Runner” are a cut above the rest of his films.

18th June 2006 14:00#7

mine are... Terry Gilliam...Every Film he has done David Fincher...every thing and he did make the best Alien film Richard Kelly...Donnie Darko, my favourite film, can't wait for Southland Tales Robert Rodriguez...I like all his films even shark boy for being gutsy...I'm a huge fan of From Dusk Till Dawn,Sin City,Roadracers and El Mariachi Trilogy Tony Scott...not a great director but I love Domino and True Romance and his BMW short... Beat The Devil

18th June 2006 15:28#9

The name that instantly comes to mind is of course ... Spielberg- Saving Private Ryan, Schindler List, Raiders, Jaws, Munich.. I feel if spielberg has his name on it it worth a least a watch!! Others I like are Scorsese- Goodfellas, Raging Bull, Gangs of New York(What a performance by Day-Lewis) Coppola-Simple for the Godfather Trilogy(Yes including part 3) Fincher-Seven, Fight Club, Chris Nolan- Insomia and Memento Sidney Lumet- Dog Day Afternoon, Serpico

19th June 2006 14:20#20

If anyone is interested in classic movies, check out the works of Michael Curtiz. He directed over 150 movies in his life time, everything from Casablanca to the original Mystery of the Wax Museum.

I also love pretty much everything Woody Allen and Alfred Hitchcock did, but those were already mentioned.

Lately, I have been watching a lot of Anthony Mann movies. He is a great B director of noir films. Never the great casts, but he seems to get the most out of them.

Robert Altman is another great not mentioned. I saw The Prarie Home Companion this weekend and while it doesn't really have a plot, it is very good entertainment. Of the Altman films I have seen, only The Company was less than enjoyable.

Woodbridge Van Dyke for the Thin Man series, San Francisco, etc.

George Cukor (and I haven't seen all of his great movies) for My Fair Lady, Adam's Rib, The Philadelphia Story, etc.

My problem with most modern directors for "favorites" is that they direct so few movies.....like QT....it is hard to tell much from them.

19th June 2006 15:55#21

Speilbergo is numero uno for me, even though his last few movies haven't really excited me to the same degree as his 70's through early 90's films did.

James Cameron is a close second.

Ridley Scott is up there, so is Scorsese even though I find most of his films stories are just re-inventions of movies he's already done. Bryan Singer, Quintin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez are all on my "up and coming" list.

19th June 2006 16:55#22

- Terry Gilliam: for 12 monkeys, Brazil and the Holy Grail. - David Fincher: for Fight Club, Se7en and the Game. - Alfred Hitchcock: for so many great movies... like Psycho, Vertigo and Dial M for Murder.

19th June 2006 19:57#26

Chris wrote: That Shymalan (sp?) bloke only made one good film, and by 'good' I mean 'incredibly predictable'.

Which movie are you talking about? The Sixth Sense? That movie was hardly predictable, at least if you saw it before it got all the hype. Maybe it is predictable now looking back, but it is very hard to knock it because it has been ripped off so many times since it was originally in theaters.

20th June 2006 14:31#30

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